Bookclub-in-a-box Presents the Discussion Companion for Sara Gruen's Novel Water for Elephants

Bookclub-in-a-box Presents the Discussion Companion for Sara Gruen's Novel Water for Elephants
Author: Marilyn Herbert
Publisher: Bookclub-in-a-Box
Total Pages: 80
Release: 2008
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1897082495

Running away with the circus is one of the world’s most enduring and romantic ideas. However, the reality of circus life during the Depression era was hard and painful. Jacob Jankowski, now over ninety years old, looks back on that time of desperation, cruelty and prejudice, but at the same time, he recalls a magical atmosphere, the animals, the larger-than-life circus population, love, and, of course, a special elephant named Rosie. Sara Gruen depicts a juxtaposed world of the train circus and the nursing home. The Bookclub-in-a-Box discussion guide for this marvelous novel will uncover the mystery of how to carry water for elephants. In addition, you will explore Gruen’s masterful story-telling techniques and how the worlds of aging and circus adventure intersect. Every Bookclub-in-a-Box discussion guide includes complete coverage of the themes and symbols, writing style and interesting background information on the novel and the author.

Bookclub-in-a-Box Discusses Sara Gruen's novel, Water For Elephants

Bookclub-in-a-Box Discusses Sara Gruen's novel, Water For Elephants
Author: Marilyn Herbert
Publisher: Bookclub-in-a-Box
Total Pages: 80
Release: 2011-04-20
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1897082797

Running away with the circus is one of the world's most enduring and romantic ideas. However, the reality of circus life during the Depression era was that it was hard and painful. Jacob Jankowski, now over ninety years old, looks back on that time of desperation, cruelty and prejudice, but at the same time, he recalls a magical atmosphere with the animals, the larger-than-life circus population, love, and, of course, a special elephant named Rosie. Sara Gruen depicts the juxtaposed truths of the circus and the nursing home. Gruen's masterful story-telling techniques show how the worlds of aging and circus adventure intersect. Among other things, the Bookclub-in-a-Box discussion guide for this marvelous novel will discuss surprising facts about circus life and elephants, and will certainly uncover the mystery of how to carry water for elephants. Every Bookclub-in-a-Box discussion guide includes complete coverage of the themes and symbols, writing style and interesting background information on the novel and the author.

Ape House

Ape House
Author: Sara Gruen
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 371
Release: 2010-09-07
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0385530250

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A “propulsive” (Entertainment Weekly) novel “full of heart, hope, and compelling questions about who we really are” (Redbook) from the acclaimed author of At the Water’s Edge and Water for Elephants “Terrific: an incisive piece of social commentary.”—The New York Times Book Review Isabel Duncan, a scientist at the Great Ape Language Lab, doesn’t understand people, but apes she gets—especially the bonobos Sam, Bonzi, Lola, Mbongo, Jelani, and Makena, who are capable of reason and communication through American Sign Language. Isabel feels more comfortable in their world than she’s ever felt among humans—until she meets John Thigpen, a very married reporter writing a human interest feature. But when an explosion rocks the lab, John’s piece turns into the story of a lifetime—and Isabel must connect with her own kind to save her family of apes from a new form of human exploitation.

Bookclub in a Box Discusses Khaled Hosseini's Novel a Thousand Splendid Suns

Bookclub in a Box Discusses Khaled Hosseini's Novel a Thousand Splendid Suns
Author: Khaled Hosseini
Publisher: Bookclub in a Box
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2008-04
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9781897082522

This is a terrific resource for students and educators of literary fiction. The newer novels of our time have few supportive interpretations as of yet; the classics have too many. BOOKCLUB-IN-A-BOX is the spot to come for a literary perspective and understanding that is just right. If you have suffered from a lack of discussion topics in the past, use this guide! Sections include: Literary Interpretation; Writing Style and Structure; Themes and Focus Points; Characaterisation; Historical Information; Novel Summary; Author Information; Images, Symbols and Metaphors; Important Quotes. This set includes: The complete BOOKCLUB-IN-A-BOX Guidebook; A Read-Alongside-Guide (RAG) -- a quick reference of fast facts and things to consider while reading the novel which can be copied and distributed to members; A BOOKCLUB-IN-A-BOX sticky notepad to highlight important passages and to record your important thoughts; Bookmarks to keep your place in all those great novels you're going to read.

The Abstinence Teacher

The Abstinence Teacher
Author: Tom Perrotta
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
Total Pages: 388
Release: 2007-10-16
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1429921382

The Abstinence Teacher illuminates the powerful emotions that run beneath the placid surface of modern American family life, and explores the complicated spiritual and sexual lives of ordinary people. It is elegantly and simply written, characterized by the distinctive mix of satire and compassion that has become Tom Perrotta's trademark. Stonewood Heights is the perfect place to raise children: it's got good schools, solid values and a healthy real estate market. Parents in the town are involved in their children's lives, and often in other children's lives, too—coaching sports, driving carpool, focusing on enriching experiences. Ruth Ramsey is the high school human sexuality teacher whose openness is not appreciated by all her students—or their parents. Her daughter's soccer coach is Tim Mason, a former stoner and rocker whose response to hitting rock bottom was to reach out and be saved. Tim's introduction of Christianity on the playing field horrifies Ruth, while his evangelical church sees a useful target in the loose-lipped sex ed teacher. But when these two adversaries in a small-town culture war actually talk to each other, a surprising friendship begins to develop. "Perrotta is that rare combination: a satirist with heart....Those who haven't curled up on the couch with this writer's books are missing a very great pleasure."—Seattle Times "Tom Perrotta is a truth-telling, unshowy chronicler of modern-day America."—The NewYork Times Book Review (in a front-page review)

Riding Lessons

Riding Lessons
Author: Sara Gruen
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 411
Release: 2009-10-13
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0061753238

As a world-class equestrian and Olympic contender, Annemarie Zimmer lived for the thrill of flight atop a strong, graceful animal. Then, at eighteen, a tragic accident destroyed her riding career and Harry, the beautiful horse she cherished. Now, twenty years later, Annemarie is coming home to her dying father's New Hampshire horse farm. Jobless and abandoned, she is bringing her troubled teenage daughter to this place of pain and memory, where ghosts of an unresolved youth still haunt the fields and stables—and where hope lives in the eyes of the handsome, gentle veterinarian Annemarie loved as a girl . . . and in the seductive allure of a trainer with a magic touch. But everything will change yet again with one glimpse of a white striped gelding startlingly similar to the one Annemarie lost in another lifetime. And an obsession is born that could shatter her fragile world.

The Dutch Wife

The Dutch Wife
Author: Ellen Keith
Publisher: Harlequin
Total Pages: 356
Release: 2018-09-04
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1488098662

A sweeping story of love and survival during World War II AMSTERDAM, MAY 1943. As the tulips bloom and the Nazis tighten their grip across the city, the last signs of Dutch resistance are being swept away. Marijke de Graaf and her husband are arrested and deported to different concentration camps in Germany. Marijke is given a terrible choice: to suffer a slow death in the labor camp or—for a chance at survival—to join the camp brothel. On the other side of the barbed wire, SS officer Karl MŸller arrives at the camp hoping to live up to his father’s expectations of wartime glory. When he encounters the newly arrived Marijke, this meeting changes their lives forever. Woven into the narrative across space and time is Luciano Wagner’s ordeal in 1977 Buenos Aires, during the heat of the Argentine Dirty War. In his struggle to endure military captivity, he searches for ways to resist from a prison cell he may never leave. From the Netherlands to Germany to Argentina, The Dutch Wife braids together the stories of three individuals who share a dark secret and are entangled in two of the most oppressive reigns of terror in modern history. This is a novel about the blurred lines between love and lust, abuse and resistance, and right and wrong, as well as the capacity for ordinary people to persevere and do the unthinkable in extraordinary circumstances. Don’t miss THE DUTCH ORPHAN! Ellen's next riveting novel set about a woman who must choose between family loyalty and her own safety.

The Unquiet

The Unquiet
Author: Jeannine Garsee
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 399
Release: 2012-07-17
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1599907232

A psychological thriller starring a teen who sees ghosts--both real and imagined

The Book Woman's Daughter

The Book Woman's Daughter
Author: Kim Michele Richardson
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
Total Pages: 374
Release: 2022-05-03
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1728242606

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! "A powerful portrait of the courageous women who fought against ignorance, misogyny, and racial prejudice." —William Kent Krueger, New York Times bestselling author of This Tender Land and Lightning Strike The new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek! Bestselling historical fiction author Kim Michele Richardson is back with the perfect book club read following Honey Lovett, the daughter of the beloved Troublesome book woman, who must fight for her own independence with the help of the women who guide her and the books that set her free. In the ruggedness of the beautiful Kentucky mountains, Honey Lovett has always known that the old ways can make a hard life harder. As the daughter of the famed blue-skinned, Troublesome Creek packhorse librarian, Honey and her family have been hiding from the law all her life. But when her mother and father are imprisoned, Honey realizes she must fight to stay free, or risk being sent away for good. Picking up her mother's old packhorse library route, Honey begins to deliver books to the remote hollers of Appalachia. Honey is looking to prove that she doesn't need anyone telling her how to survive. But the route can be treacherous, and some folks aren't as keen to let a woman pave her own way. If Honey wants to bring the freedom books provide to the families who need it most, she's going to have to fight for her place, and along the way, learn that the extraordinary women who run the hills and hollers can make all the difference in the world. Praise for The Book Woman's Daughter: "In Kim Michele Richardson's beautifully and authentically rendered The Book Woman's Daughter she once again paints a stunning portrait of the raw, somber beauty of Appalachia, the strong resolve of remarkable women living in a world dominated by men, and the power of books and sisterhood to prevail in the harshest circumstances. A critical and profoundly important read for our time. Badassery womanhood at its best!"—Sara Gruen, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Water for Elephants "Fierce, beautiful and inspirational, Kim Michele Richardson has created a powerful tale about brave extraordinary heroines who are downright haunting and unforgettable."—Abbott Kahler, New York Times bestselling author (as Karen Abbott) of The Ghosts of Eden Park